In 483 B.C., Xerxes I of Persia ordered the Dardanelles strait (the water itself) to be flogged when a storm dared to blow away the pontoon bridge he was building so that his army could invade Greece. Considering that storm merely caused some property damage while the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake killed at least 308 people, I think the ground in Italy is deserving of much more than a flogging. I suggest the ground under the city of L’Aquila be sentenced to death and shot by firing squad. That’ll show it.

I've posted before, but it bears repeating; there's a quirk of Italian law that when a person is found to have died from unnatural causes (like, say, a house falling on top of you) the local magistrate must fix blame for that act on a person. They are bound by law to name a culprit. It first came to the fore in the death of Formula One driver Ayrton Senna, who died from injuries suffered in a crash at the Imola circuit (altho he actually wasn't pronounced dead until he was airlifted to the hospital in Bologna), and criminal charges were brought against the chief engineer who designed the car, the two principals behind the team, and three other team members who carried out modifications to the steering column of Senna's car. (The failure of this steering column was deemed to have caused the accident.... which is not a scientifically supportable assertion.) All six were acquitted in 1997.

However, Chief Designer - Adrian Newey - and one of the principals - Technical Director and team co-owner Patrick Head - ultimately stood trial two additional times for their role in Senna's death. Head was ultimately deemed guilty in the third go-round, but his sentence was applied retroactively to the date of Senna's crash (May 1, 1994) and by the time of the verdict the statute of limitations had expired, so no jail time was ever served. As far as I know, the case was appealed and the guilty verdict was ultimately overturned.

It was a completely ridiculous situation for a motor racing team to find themselves in.